While revising the 3D design for Moment, I started off using a Makerbot Replicator at TechShop. These machines were the first to usher in an era of accessible consumer 3D printing. The bundled software is easy to use, and the printers generally work well. That said, with a $2,000 price tag, they aren’t truly accessible to the average consumer, and a TechShop membership can also be expensive if you don’t use it regularly. With affordable rapid-prototyping in mind, I began asking “Can you get started 3D printing for less?”.

Now, with the Monoprice MP Select Mini, you can. At an MSRP of $200, I decided to get one and try it out for myself. It doesn’t disappoint. It works with a wide range of filaments (ABS, PLA, XT Copolyester, PET, TPU, TPC, FPE, PVA, HIPS, Jelly, Foam, Felty), including a PLA-based wooden filament from Hatchbox. After 3D printing a few models of Shrek and some geometric Pokemon, I was impressed.

non-standard parts that require warranty replacement or buying a new printer

Conclusion

If you’re looking to get started with 3D printing, or want to try out different filament types inexpensively, buy this printer. Its price sets it apart from the competition. Any comparable printer is easily 3x the price, but the additional cost may also come with improved reliability—only time will tell whether the MP Select Mini is a durable product.

Giant is our favorite place to work, as long as it isn’t too crowded – its clean interior has a variety of places to sit and work – bar stools, regular tables, benches, and cushioned seats. During the day, it’s often very quiet, but sometimes it can be crowded at peak hours.

Although it can be loud at times, Lux is a very large coffee shop with a lot of space. A single cup of drip coffee also buys you unlimited refills, so you can sit and work for several hours as long as you don’t mind a little bit of a crowd. For those looking to work into the hours of the evening (something startup founders may be a bit too familiar with), Lux also offers many local beers on tap, providing a lively evening work environment.

As more freelancers, small business owners, and startups get started in Phoenix, an increasing number of office spaces are now coworking spaces – buildings that house people from a diverse range of backgrounds, each with their own line of work. Below, you’ll find a list of the best coworking spaces in Phoenix.

CO+HOOTS is a coworking space that also provides programming and events focused on helping entrepreneurs create successful businesses. The space is shared between individuals and growing businesses, and the community consists of designers, architects, lawyers, PR agents, software developers, startups, real estate agents, and photographers.

With the rise of Netflix and Youtube as dominant platforms for video consumption, fewer people are visiting theaters to watch movies. An increasing amount of multimedia content will be designed for the home theater as these streaming services grow their libraries. Netflix users consume content on whichever screen is available: a laptop, tablet, or smartphone. As the user experience for content consumption shifts towards mobile applications and at-home viewing, the interactive elements of 3D and 4D film previously reserved for movie theaters will transition to technologies easily adopted by households.

Good video is engaging – it tells a compelling story with excellent production value. Since there is increasing competition for viewership between different streaming platforms, devices, and content production studios, there is an increasing demand for differentiated content – content that provides a unique experience to its viewers. Continue reading “The Future of 4D Home Cinema: A Haptic Effects Track”

Vibrotactile pulses (e.g. the buzzing of a cell phone or game controller) can provide users with real-time feedback in a computer interface, but it’s not the only way to transmit information through the sense of touch. Modulating the temperature of the surface of a device can also provide additional information to users.

When a current flows through a junction between two different conductors, heat can be generated or removed from the junction. This phenomenon is called the Peltier effect, named after physicist Jean Charles Athanase Peltier. Different conductive materials that exhibit a Peltier effect will generate or remove different amounts of heat proportional to the amount of current running through the junction – the Peltier coefficient measures how much heat is carried for every unit of charge flowing through the device. Continue reading “Temperature Feedback with the Thermoelectric (Peltier) Effect”

In this post, we’ll look at the different ways that some of the most popular wearables implement haptics. Outside of the Apple Watch, most wearables use a simple eccentric rotating mass motor for haptic feedback.

Apple Watch

The Apple Watch was first introduced in the fall of 2014 and has since become the world’s best selling wearable device. It was Apple’s first introduction of its “Taptic Engine”, which provides haptic feedback for alerts and notifications. While the design of the Taptic Engine module is proprietary, it is likely a customized linear resonant actuator.

A few weeks ago, I noticed that the aluminum enclosure of my unibody Macbook Pro had a strange texture when I brushed my hand across the surface. After some tinkering, I noticed that this only happened when the device was being used while charging and that it only happened when using my shorter, 2-prong, power cable—leading me to believe there was some sort of current leakage happening.